I am fascinated by the way the GANs have responded to my training set of woods and trees. It is extraordinary how some seem so close and others are more abstract, a collection of disparate shapes and colours. When I discussed the resulting video with someone the other week, she described it as dreamlike, on the one hand recognisable but on the other strange and disconcerting.
It reminds me of one of my often used motifs, that of Alice as she navigates Wonderland. Things that appear familiar take on an unfamiliar form or behaviour. It feels very appropriate in our current context of uncertainty and not knowing. What was once safe has now become a source of possible danger.
I am still walking across our local park and through the woods and they continue to offer a place of contemplation. I am also noticing how much they shift and change, where animals and humans intervene or the weather leaves a new imprint. It has its own form of morphing.
Looking through the many hundreds of generated images I aware of an urge to organise them, a replay of the categorisation that brought them into being through the GAN. I still don’t know quite where this is taking me but I am trusting the process.
This is the image that I am really drawn to of this set, it has that other-worldy feel. I think I know what I am looking at but I’m not quite sure.
